Relocate Madallah highway market

Recent call by the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) for the relocation of Madalla market in Niger State situated along the Abuja-Kaduna highway reminds us of some horrific crashes that claimed the lives of scores of traders and travelers on that roadside market. Unit Commander in-charge of FRSC in Suleja Mr. Olayinka Akande recently called […]

Recent call by the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) for the relocation of Madalla market in Niger State situated along the Abuja-Kaduna highway reminds us of some horrific crashes that claimed the lives of scores of traders and travelers on that roadside market.

Unit Commander in-charge of FRSC in Suleja Mr. Olayinka Akande recently called for the market’s relocation in order to ease persistent traffic gridlock along the busy highway. Speaking on safety measures taken by FRSC to reduce crashes during the ember months, Akande said such measures include checking commercial activities of traders along the Madalla-Zuba highway.

In spite of the many lives and property worth millions of naira lost over the years to fire disasters caused by petrol tanker accidents at the Madalla market, the Niger State Government has not yet relocated it. Instead, the weekly market is expanding steadily and taking most of the highway on market days, thereby blocking traffic flow from the northern part of the country into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and beyond.

Madalla market is not more than 500 meters long but on market days road users could spend hours just to pass through it. Traders, wheelbarrow pushers and indiscriminate parking by taxi and commercial bus drivers all contribute to the gridlock. Some road users have stopped traveling through the road on Thursdays when Madalla market holds. While some road users take alternative routes into Abuja city and other parts of the FCT, others plan their trips for days other than Thursdays.

The agony suffered by motorists and passengers traveling and passing though roadside markets are worse if the roadside market is located on a hilly road or highway, as is the case with Madalla market. Trailers, petrol tankers and other articulated vehicles have crushed traders, pedestrians and motorcyclists around the Madalla market each time such vehicles had brake failure. Brake failure is common to articulated vehicles when they are at high speed and overloaded. Scores of human lives, livestock, fleet of cars and big stalls containing several tons of grains, textile materials and furniture were burnt beyond recognition each time there was a petrol tanker accident along the highway on a Madalla market day.

In one of such deadly accidents in July 2010, for example, more than a dozen people were burnt to death and sixteen others injured when a petrol tanker transporting fuel fell on its side and caught fire at the Madalla market. Similar fatal accidents have occurred at roadside markets in other parts of the country. In August last year, a tipper driver lost control and ran over 8 people at the Oka roadside market in Ikpoba-Okha LGA of Edo State. In January this year, five persons including a woman and two children were crushed to death at the roadside market in Akungba, Akungba LGA of Ondo State.

The illegal parking of petrol tanker vehicles at Tafa along the Abuja-Kaduna highway has been another source of serious worry to travelers using the road. Besides obstructing the free flow of traffic, the practice poses serious threat to lives and property. It has on different occasions caused accidents that killed many lives and burnt a lot of property. The scene at Tafa is replicated daily along the highways in many other Nigerian cities including Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu, Warri and Makurdi.

While we call on FRSC to ensure full enforcement of parking laws along the country’s highways, we urge Niger and Kaduna state governments to respectively relocate Madalla market and criminalize roadside parking at Tafa immediately. Governors of states where roadside markets exist should equally relocate them without delay. Parking squares for articulated vehicles should be provided far away from highways. Although accidents cannot be stopped completely because human behaviour such as reckless driving is involved, it can be reduced if all the roadside markets are relocated and arbitrary parking of vehicles on highways is outlawed.